


Fear of Flying

by GeckoGirl89



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Airplanes, Angst, Anxiety, Danny-centric, Fear of Flying, Gen, Introspection, Mental Health Issues, Possible McDanno subtext, Post-Episode: s07e02 No Ke Ali'i Wahine A Me Ka 'Aina (For Queen and Country), internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 12:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11669283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: Danny never used to have an issue with planes, but now he's trying to mitigate his anxiety enough to prevent a panic attack.





	Fear of Flying

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following comment-fic prompt (http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/817104.html?thread=103474384#t103474384): "any fandom - any character - fear of flying"
> 
> Regarding the internalized ableism tag, it's a few brief thoughts Danny has about not wanting to freak people out or be a burden because of his anxiety. It's the kind of thing I thought Danny might think in this situation, and it also comes from having similar thoughts when I have struggled with my own mental health issues in the past (anxiety and depression).

The flight attendant stops near his seat on her way down the aisle. "Do you need anything, sir?"  
  
Danny remembers instantly that he can't have an alcoholic drink, even if that would help him. Oblivion would be preferable to the images invading his head right now, but Danny will have to get through this without medicating himself.  
  
He shoots a tight smile at the nice woman who is just doing her job and doesn't want to deal with head cases like him. "A glass of water might be nice," he tells her.  
  
She walks away with a frown, and Danny does that exercise in his head where he counts to 10 and takes 'calming breaths.' It works, but only enough to make his knee stop visibly bouncing. His heart is still racing a mile a minute.  
  
Danny never used to have an issue with planes, despite his claustrophobia. Sure, flying involves being trapped in a hunk of metal hurtling through the air, but Danny never consciously thought of it that way. His fear involved tight, cramped, and often dark spaces, feeling like he was a rat. Tunnels were the worst, and elevators weren't good either, as illustrated by that time he got stuck in one with Mindy. But Danny could fall asleep on a plane, as he did that one time on Jerry's (surprisingly comfortable) shoulder. He often did, when he flew from Hawaii to New Jersey in the past, because the flight was 10 hours long.  
  
But not this time. This time, Danny's trying to mitigate his anxiety enough to prevent a panic attack.  
  
This stupid passenger plane isn't like the plane Steve was shot on. It was too big, with too many people, to resemble that aircraft. And the likelihood that he will have to figure out how to fly the damn thing is virtually nil.  
  
But still, the images come back to him. Steve, so alarmingly pale for someone who spends as much time in the sun as he does. Steve's blue eyes, almost white and gazing upwards as the light fades away from them. Steve with a gunshot wound to his side and blood flowing like a river at the floor underneath his feet. And that helpless sensation he felt up in the air came back to him the instant this plane took off.  
  
Danny is determined to get through this. He did then, listening to the air traffic controller and figuring out how to land the plane on the beach even though they told him that he would be safer with a water landing. He did later, when he was on a plane with Steve, because he could tell that his partner was terrified, even if he tended to show it more with aneurysm face than shaking limbs.   
  
Danny is used to getting through anxiety. It's something he's had since he was a little kid, and he had to learn to manage it as best he could. And then he became a cop and a father, and he was obligated to cope because he had people counting on him.  
  
But at this moment, he isn't Danny the cop, Danny the father, or Danny the best friend, he's just Danny the anonymous passenger. Danny the anonymous passenger doesn't want to have a panic attack in public, but he doesn't have to hide the way his hands shake, ensure that he doesn't have a look of terror in his eyes, or pretend like he's totally okay. This Danny can let himself fall apart, just a tiny bit.  
  
The flight attendant returns with his drink and a soothing smile. Danny offers her the brightest smile he can, hoping that he doesn't scare the poor woman by looking manic.  
  
He lifts the glass of water to his lips, but ultimately he spills it on his lap, because it's hard to hold something when your hands are shaking so damn much. So much for not looking like an idiot.  
  
The man seated next to him, who he just met on this flight, turns to him with a kind expression. "Nervous flier?"  
  
Danny doesn't know the guy, so he can tell him a summarized version of the truth.  
  
"Something like that."


End file.
